Pakistan-China IPP Islamabad: With more than Rs 300 billion in stuck up dues, over two dozen Chinese firms operating in Pakistan on Monday said that they would be forced to shut down their power plants this month unless payments were made upfront, media reports said on Wednesday.
This was the overwhelming theme of a meeting presided over by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal with more than 30 Chinese companies operating under the flagship multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in various areas including energy, communication, railways and others, The Dawn reported.
There were a plethora of complaints, including those relating to complex visa procedures for Chinese executives, taxation and so on, but there were also counter complaints from the Pakistani side as well, on delayed responses to their communications, informed sources told The Dawn.
About 25 representatives from Chinese independent power producers (IPPs) spoke one after the other and complained about the buildup of their dues and warned that without upfront payments they would shut down within days.
They said the authorities were pressuring them to maximise generation to meet peak summer needs, but “this is impossible for us in view of serious liquidity issues”.
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